Elfen Lied, one of the most controversial animes yet I’m not sure it should be. There are shows that are more gory than Elfen Lied but for it’s time, it was pretty bad but in a good way.
Elfen Lied is a very brutal psychological horror. A specimen known as a Diclonius breaks out of a lab and winds up losing her memory. She’s found by two teenagers who end up taking care of her. Diclonii are a human like being with horns, they also have telekenetic invisible arms, known as vectors, which seem to be used for mostly killing since it’s in their nature. This specific Diclonius has lost her memory and ends up with a split personality. Sometimes she is docile and cute and other times she’s a brutal killing machine. With the people from the lab and others looking for her, it leads to a lot of chaotic incidents.
Lucy the Diclonius that escapes the lab is the main protagonist here. She goes from being on the run to being an innocent girl who doesn’t even know how to talk because of losing her memory. The two personalities actually keeps things interesting. Kohta and Yuka are the teenagers who find Lucy when she washes up on the shore after her escape. What they don’t realize is that they actually know Lucy and the show does give you the background on the trio.
For the time of the show, the art is well done. Might not stand up to today’s standards but it worked well for when it was done. The opening music and sequence gives off a creepy vibe and well deserved with this one in some of the situations. Some places have Elfen Lied listed as ecchi. There is nakedness but when I think of ecchi, I think of High School DxD and shows like that. There may be one scene that you might see in an ecchi show and a few others that would be great for those lolicons out there but nothing gratuitous in terms of grabbing breasts and stuff like that. There is a decent amount though so you’ve been warned.
This show is brutal as hell but I love this show. If you’re squeamish then don’t watch. You get gore and destruction right from the jump. The first episode is one of the most brutal episodes of the whole show actually. The show isn’t like a Shakespearean masterpiece but it still ranks high for me.
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